The Giuseppe Cei Classic for the junior category, one of the most beautiful and important races in the cycling calendar, which takes place in Monte San Quirico on the outskirts of Lucca and organized by the Giuseppe Cei sports society must this year deal with a couple of changes. Initially scheduled for Sunday, March 22 (first race day for juniors), it will instead take place a week earlier, on Sunday, March 15.

On the 22nd, as is well known, a Referendum is scheduled, and the relevant authorities would not have given authorization for the event to take place. Therefore, following the indication of the Federal Council of the Italian Cycling Federation, the race will be held on the previous Sunday. This will be the 75th edition of the Coppa Cei, with the 56th Francesco Tomei Cup also at stake. The second novelty for the Lucca race concerns the route, as it is not possible to use the traditional climb of San Martino in Vignale in the final part of the race. Thus, the organizers, led by the tireless Giuseppe Tomei, have inserted a new uphill section (rarely used in cycling) of about 1 km with a challenging stretch followed by a false flat. From a technical and difficulty perspective, according to the Lucca organizers, the variations are minimal. We recall that last year's winner of the Coppa Cei was the strong Marche region rider Tommaso Cingolani.